Tempest in a teapot, or worthy revelations?

The initial article published in La Presse on Tuesday pointed out Pointe Claire Mayor Bill McMurchie led the way claiming $23,609 in expenses in 2007. The La Presse article (which can be found on cyberpresse.ca) also indicated (though not as methodically as they should have) these expenses included costs such as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference held in Calgary, a charity golf tournament for West Island Community Shares (WICS) and the West Island of Montreal Chamber of Commerce's Accolades gala. The article also mentioned about $9,000 was reimbursed to McMurchie for his car in 2007. What Montreal's main anglo TV and radio news stations reported the day the article came out misrepresented the figures in the La Presse article. CTV's online blurb states "McMurchie dined on more than $23,000 of his citizens (sic) money." Maybe he chewed on his Lexus' tires heading to an agglomeration meeting downtown in heavy traffic, but The Chronicle doubts that. CJAD's online blurb stated McMurchie "spent close to 24-thousand dollars on restaurants last year." Clearly, the total expenses claimed by each West Island mayor were more than just for meals. CJAD tried to backtrack yesterday and was running a report with McMurchie stating he spent less than $2,000 on meals alone in 2007. But that's a little too late. The damage was done; his reputation was smeared. Listeners and viewers to these broadcasters, many of whom are West Islanders, were given the false impression McMurchie spent over $450 on meals per week that he sought to be compensated for from city coffers.

La Presse could be faulted on some points. They didn't seem to have asked McMurchie to explain his expenses (they also got Kirkland Mayor John Meaney's first name wrong on one occasion) and perhaps they failed to make clear that nothing the mayors did was illegal, as all the bills were approved by council and each city's budget sets aside funds for council salaries and expenses.

However, the article did serve to enlighten the populace on how city officials spend their money. While WICS is certainly a good cause, if the mayor and councillors are going to a charity event, can't they just pay the contributions out of their own pockets and then deduct it from their personal taxes? Should mayors take their spouses on municipal business trips at the expense of taxpayers (which Pointe Claire does not but some cities do)? These are legitimate questions but for the most part, these practises have been going on for a long time. So, basically much has been made of McMurchie's expense claims and Meaney's business lunches, but most West Islanders don't seem too fazed by it all. What we can all learn from this is that accuracy and context should be regarded more highly than catchy (cheesy) headlines on a quiet local news day during the summer.